Hezbollah military commander's body found in debris of Beirut building

NEW DLEHI: Body of Fuad Shukar, the Hezbollah military commander, was found in the debris of a bulding in Beirut's southern suburb on Wednesday.

The building had been targeted by an Israeli strike the previous day.

Although Hezbollah had stated early on Wednesday that Shukr was present in the building during the Israeli attack, they did not provide confirmation if he died.

Late on Tuesday, Israel's military declared that they had eliminated Shukr, whom they identified as Hezbollah's most senior commander and held responsible for an attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights over the weekend, which resulted in the deaths of a dozen young people.

However, Hezbollah denied any involvement in Saturday's attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Shukr "has the blood of many Israelis on his hands. Tonight, we have shown that the blood of our people has a price, and that there is no place out of reach for our forces to this end", reported news agency Reuters.

A senior security source from another country in the region verified that Shukr had succumbed to his injuries.

Medical and security sources reported that at least two women and two children were also killed in the Israeli strike.

In its long-awaited statement on Wednesday, Hezbollah said that Israel had attacked a residential building in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold for the group, resulting in the deaths of "a number of citizens" and injuries to others.

The group confirmed that Shukr "was present in this building at the time" but stated that they were still awaiting definitive results on his fate.

According to Hezbollah sources and the Israeli military's announcement of his killing, Shukr served as an adviser to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

If his death is officially confirmed, he would be the most senior Hezbollah commander to have been killed in nearly 10 months of exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, which have been occurring in parallel with the Gaza War.

The strike on Beirut occurred shortly before the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran during the early hours of Wednesday, further fueling concerns of wider regional escalation. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas.